Destination: Las Vegas!

On June 6, 2003 more than 150 various custom vehicles converged on Dealer's Sport Truck in Los Alamitos, California. Sponsored by Chevrolet Trucks, these rides were there for the kickoff of the State 2 State Cruise. The cruise itself was a 400-mile drive to various points in Southern California that would eventually end in Las Vegas for the 2003 Truckin' & Sport Truck Vegas Nationals later that evening.

Registration at Dealer's started as early as 6 a.m. for the staffers of Truckin', Sport Truck, and Mini Truckin' magazines, but most of the enthusiasts who registered for the trip around Cali' and into Nevada showed up between 7 and 8 a.m. Besides grab-bags full of goodies for the participants in the cruise, there were T-shirts from Big Time Threads, plenty of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and a whole lot of anticipation about what was sure to be a good time for all in attendance. After you'd eaten plenty of Krispy Kremes and picked up your T-shirt and other goodies, you were able to grab the first of many poker cards, which would later serve as your hand in a poker run.

Promptly at 8:30, a huge caravan of customs, - lowered and lifted, mini and fullsize - pulled out of Dealer's for the first leg of the State 2 State Cruise. About 45 minutes later, the parking lot at Gibson Performance Exhaust in Corona, California, was filled to overflowing when everyone showed up. Even still, a few more rides jumped into the caravan at this point, making the lineup of customs even more impressive. As the participants in the cruise found out, one of the coolest things about the stops was the guided tour at each, and the stop at Gibson was more than impressive. Once you went through Gibson's facility, you were able to draw another poker card, jump into line, and head off to the next destination.

Stop number two, destination number three on the State 2 State Cruise, was APC. This was the shortest leg of the trip because Gibson and APC are relatively close together. The stop at APC was sponsored by Stylin' Concepts. If you ever have the opportunity, we highly recommend visiting APC - it's mind-boggling. From APC products to highly customized APC show vehicles, an impressive warehouse, R&D, manufacturing, shipping, and a receiving facility, this is one huge place, with tons of interesting custom components. Once you left the building, the folks from Stylin' Concepts had drinks for everyone, and, you guessed it, another poker card.

After the huge line of vehicles made it back to the freeway from the stop at APC, the next leg of the State 2 State Cruise was to the NHRA Museum in Pomona, California. Whether or not you're a racing nut, this museum is a wonder. There are all types of various drag racing machines inside that will wow even the most unenthusiastic door dragger. This was the stop where another title sponsor of the event, JC Whitney, hosted lunch. Food's always a favorite thing for mini-truckers, right? Also at each stop along the way, raffle tickets were sold for a Steve Van Demon paintjob to be performed while the show was going on in Las Vegas.

By the time everyone cleared out of the NHRA Museum parking lot in Pomona, it was only a matter of driving east on I-10 and north on I-15 to arrive in Las Vegas, some 250 miles away. In all, the drive went amazingly well, with no accidents in the lineup of killer customs that made the trip, and everyone showed up on Freemont Street in Las Vegas by 6 p.m. Safely in Vegas, everyone was ready to show after cleaning their rides, but first, they were treated to a special destination party hosted by AIM Industries.